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Here is the transcript of the post 2024 Canadian Grand Prix track interviews and press conference featuring George Russell!
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Martin Brundle)
Q: George, tenacity is a word that springs to mind. I mean, you stuck with it. You had a few adventures during that race, but you’re on the podium.
George RUSSELL: Yeah, it felt like a missed opportunity, to be honest. We were really quick at the beginning of the race on the Inters, and then obviously Lando came through really fast, and then we jumped back onto the slicks, made a couple of mistakes out there, just pushing the limits and paid the price for it. But nevertheless, first podium of the year, we truly had a really fast car this weekend, and to be back in the mix fighting for victory was really fun. That’s what Formula 1 is about, and that’s why we go racing.
Q: Before that little slip at Turn 8, did you think you might be able to catch Max? Do you think you could have?
GR: I think so. I mean, we had the pace. Max was very strong at that point of the race. But then when we put the Mediums on at the end, we were really, really fast. I think that mistake with Oscar when I tried overtaking him and I lost the position to Lewis cost us at least P2 and maybe going to fight with Max later in the race. But, you know, we’ll take all the positives from this weekend. First podium, first pole position of the year and excited moving forward.
Q: Pretty feisty, side-by-side with Oscar. How did you see that one playing out?
GR: Yeah, it was pretty tight out there with Oscar and then obviously Lewis at the end as well. So I think it was hard, fair racing. So difficult when there’s only one dry line. So you’ve got to be committed and trust your rivals.
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PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Very well done today, Max. Thank you. George, we’ll come to you next. Now, it was a great race, but you’ve said this is a missed opportunity. But when you think of the progress you and Mercedes have made in the last few races, there must be a lot of positives that you can take away from here?
GR: Yeah, absolutely, 100%. I think if you told us ahead of this weekend, pole position and P3, we may not have believed you, to be honest. But as Max said, it was such a tricky race out there for everybody. You put a millimetre wide and you’re off. I think for me, it was just one too many mistakes at key moments that cost us a shot of fighting with these two towards the end of the race.
Q: The car seemed extremely quick in all conditions. Just talk us through the decision to give up track position to Piastri when you made that final stop for them?
GR: Yeah, I wasn’t… I was pushing to pit because I thought the new Medium would have been really competitive at the end. I need to look at it because to be honest, in hindsight, I think we had really great pace. Were you two on the medium? Yeah, those guys were on the Medium and me being on the Hard, I think we’d have probably been in a really strong position to fight, but, There’s a lot of changes you have made if you know how things plan out retrospectively, but I’m happy with the progress we’ve made. Really proud of the team because we’ve been pushing these upgrades through and it’s really paying dividends.
Q: Happy with the progress, proud of the team. Can we say Mercedes are back?
GR: You know, I think Red Bull have had, you know… It’s no secret they’ve struggled a bit with their car these last three races. So I think we need to see how their performance turns out in Barcelona, which is a little bit more of a conventional circuit. But this pace increase that we’ve seen from us this weekend, it hasn’t been a surprise to us because all the numbers back at the factory told us we’re going to be finding a big chunk of performance with these upgrades. So Barcelona is going to be interesting for everybody, but I’m confident we can be in the fight.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Al Sciola – Daily Hive) Max, in lap 32, you seem to swerve around a groundhog. Do you have any recollection of that? And can you tell us. what kind of challenge that brings to you guys when you’re here in Montréal?
Max VERSTAPPEN: He was almost dead. Yeah, I started to get to the last chicane and I thought it was debris initially. So I started to close in and then I’m like, ‘Oh my God, it’s an animal!’ So yeah, I swerved right at the last moment. I don’t know what happened after. Did any of you touch him or you ran off?
GR: I saw him.
MV: He ran off?
GR: Yeah, he ran off.
MV: Yeah, good. Luckily, I mean, if that hits your car…
GR: I was quite happy because I caught you up by a couple of tenths!
MV: Yeah, I really had to slow down for it because I was a bit off the dry line. Yeah, last year, of course, a bird flew into my car. So I didn’t want to have a groundhog stuck in my car as well. I call it a beaver, but it’s a groundhog. I didn’t know what it was exactly.
GR: If you hit a beaver, you’ll have problems.
MV: Yeah.
Q: (Sahil Kapur – NBC) A question for George. How much of your strength this weekend, would you say, is track specific? Can we expect you and Mercedes to fight for poles and wins going forward? And could you talk us through those last few laps, the battle with Lewis? You seemed very determined to get that podium.
GR: I think Red Bull have struggled a little bit the last couple of races, yet they’ve still won two of the last three. So I expect them to probably take a small step when we go back to the European races on more conventional circuits. But I really think our performance step is true and it’s real. And I think we can be in this fight with McLaren. Let’s hope we can continue being in the fight with Max. And let’s see with Ferrari, they obviously had a bit of an off weekend. But no, definitely those last three laps, I was so focused to get back on the podium because I felt like I let the team down a bit, just losing sight of Max and a few mistakes that put me in that position in the first place. And always with Lewis, it’s really hard and fair. When you’re racing with one of the greats, you know that you can trust them. And that was really great to see at the end.
Q: (Jake Boxall-Legge – Autosport) A question for all three. Obviously, we had that transition point with the Intermediate tyre when the Safety Car came out. Was that an opportunistic time for all of you? Do you think you could potentially have stayed out in the inters or was it just going to turn to slicks by the time the rain came? Thank you.
GR: Yeah, it’s been the same the last three years that the track dries everywhere except the first two corners, which has been a bit strange considering it was resurfaced this year and that was sort of the limit coming out the pits. It was so, so wet. Turn 1 and 2 were so wet, but to be honest, the rest of the track was really dry. So yeah, whether drainage needs to be changed there or something, I don’t know. But Turn 1 and 2 was really the limiting factor.
Source: FIA.com
